Tag Archive for ‘Mining’

Transparency – the effective provision of credible information to stakeholders in a way that improves decision-making and increases legitimacy and trust – is a rapidly growing requirement for international corporations, particularly those in mining, oil and gas, also known as the extractive industries.

While daily news headlines can sometimes make it easy to assume that big business is incapable of doing good in the world, contributor Christine Bader argues that there exists a “global army” of Corporate Idealists hard at work on a host of environmental and social issues. She offers the beginnings of a Manifesto to help support that army – “an outline of the principles and actions that will help us better align the interests of business and society.”

Mining disasters have grabbed a lot of headlines of late, but mines pose another insidious threat that tends to get little press attention: pollution of the nearby environment which, in turn, threatens the health of the people who live nearby. Environmentalists are particularly concerned about water pollution from mines.

A new measure designed to combat corruption in resource-rich countries by requiring mining and energy companies to disclose payments to foreign governments was highlighted this week by U.S. President Barack Obama in a speech at the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York. The requirement is a provision of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill signed into law by Mr. Obama in July.

Can poor corporate governance practices serve as an indicator of bad management, higher risk and – potentially – disaster? In the case of Massey Energy Corp., operator of a West Virginia coal mine where at least 25 people were killed in an accident this week, the answer is yes, according to a leading corporate governance research firm.